This invention relates to mooring devices for securing a boat to a pile, and more particularly, to floating devices for use in tidal waters which fluctuate in depth.
In tidal waters, the surface of the water rises and falls with the tides. Mooring boats to a fixed mooring point creates a problem in that the boat rises and falls with the tide. Therefore, with fixed mooring points, the mooring line needs to be kept sufficiently slack to allow the boat to rise and fall with the tide. Yet the boat needs to be kept sufficiently secure to prelude bumping the pile and damaging the boat. One solution is to moor the boat to a floating dock and to a fixed choker line attached to a pile. However, if a floating dock is not readily available, other mooring devices are required.
Another solution is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,342 to Aks. This patent discloses an elongated cylindrical pile mooring bumper with a relatively complex configuration including a hitch ring, a supporting column and a bumper collar. The bumper collar and hitch ring are axially spaced from each other with a padded canvas sheath. This is a relatively costly device, is relatively heavy and therefore, not readily portable and cumbersome to implement.
A relatively complex mooring system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,521 to Stone. This system uses an array of rollers and a complex mooring tie down arrangement. The rollers permit the mooring line to rise and fall with the tide by rolling up and down the piles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,598 discloses a system for mooring a boat in a lake using portable poles inserted into the lake bottom and hollow drums which slide on the poles. The drums are especially adapted to slide along the poles and include upper and lower sleeves. This type of container is not readily adapted for sliding on available piles and requires the specially sized poles for use therewith. U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,576 shows another roller arrangement including carriages which ride along the piles. This is also a complex and costly system and not readily portable.